…CNBC: Dick’s Sporting Goods shares soar on earnings beat “The sporting goods retailer’s stock was up as much as 6.2% in premarket trading on the news, having climbed about 18% over the past 12 months.”Read more

Walmart poaches ex-Google, Amazon exec Suresh Kumar for new CTO role by Lauren Thomas at CNBC. “…Kumar will now sit directly on McMillon’s leadership team. Kumar will also oversee technology at Sam’s Club and internationally, and will lead Walmart’s Global Business Services division.”Read more

Amazon breaks ground for Seaport Boston office by Jonathan Ng at Boston Herald. “…will house 2,000 new jobs in machine learning, cloud computing and robotics engineering…will occupy 430,000 square feet of new office space at 111 Harbor Way — a 17-story tower built off Congress Street — by 2021.”Tiered subs

The Shockingly Large Business Behind the Iconic Smiley Face by Jacob Gallagher at Wall Street Journal. “We have now globally close to 300 licensees and the value of the smiley products selling globally is over $400 million,” per year said Mr. Loufrani, adding that clothing generates 60% of its revenue.”WSJ subs.

Bed Bath & Beyond to add four new directors in settlement with activist trio by Thomas Franck at CNBC. “It also agreed to form a committee that will explore the potential sale or spin-off of underperforming businesses, a source familiar with the situation tells CNBC.”Read more

Amazon shoots down reports of reduction in bulk orders from small wholesale suppliers by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “(Amazon) issued the following statement: “We informed Bloomberg prior to publication of their article that their story and sources are wrong. We review our selling partner relationships on an individual basis as part of our normal course of business and any speculation of a large scale reduction of vendors is incorrect.”Read more

J.C. Penney shareholders refrain from asking hard questions of CEO Jill Soltau by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “About 21% of Penney’s merchandise comes from China, which is low for a company that sells apparel, shoes, soft home goods and toys, and that is a testament “to a great sourcing team” she inherited, Soltau said.”Tiered subs.

DHL brings Africa eShop to 20 African countries by Jake Bright at TechCrunch. “There’s a competitive e-commerce scenario brewing between (DHL and Jumia)…DHL Africa e-Shop touts itself as “Africa’s Largest Online Shopping Platform.” Jumia said “We believe that our platform is the largest e-commerce marketplace in Africa,” in its SEC S1 filing.”Read more

MacKenzie Bezos promises to give away half her fortune by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. “MacKenzie Bezos has signed The Giving Pledge, a commitment that hundreds of wealthy people have made to donate more than half of their money to philanthropic causes.”Read more

Eddie Lampert trying to back out of an agreement to pay up to $43M for the severance of the retailer’s laid-off employees at USA Today.Read more

De Blasio says NYC is ‘very jaded’ about Amazon by Julia Marsh at NY Post. “Mayor Bill de Blasio is giving Amazon the cold shoulder, saying the e-tailing giant won’t get any help from the city if they close on plans to move to Manhattan’s West Side.”Read more